CHANGING PATTERNS OF SUPPLY

Objective

Situated at the crossroads of the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast, Catalonia represents Spain's "natural" gateway to the European Community and the rest of Europe, a favourable location which is reflected in the dynamism of the regional economy. The desire of the regional authorities to link energy programmes to the dynamics of European integration has led to the development of the "ESPREC" programme (Spatial and Prospective Study of Energy Demand in Catalonia), a veritable cornerstone of regional planning efforts. With the most recent industrial census dating back to 1978, a first priority was to obtain an overview of global energy flows in the region. The objectives of the ESPREC programme were 3-fold :
* to supply a detailed analysis of energy consumption per sector as well as to identify producers;
* to analyze the effect of measures to economize consumption and to diversify sources of supply;
* to test the reliability of energy forecasts at sub-regional level.
Thanks to ESPREC, we now have a diagnosis of Catalonia's energy situation. The major features are :
PROGRESS IN TERMS OF ENERGY INTENSITY
Between 1979 and 1986, the region's energy intensity fell by 14% (corresponding to a saving of 1,500,000 toe per year). A sector-by-sector analysis of these results showed that it is primarily technological progress and the increased competitiveness of major industrial consumers which are responsible for this downwards trend.
AN INDUSTRY WITH HEAVY ENERGY NEEDS
From 1986 onwards, the movement reversed: final consumption for 1988 is estimated at 8.5 million toe, up more than 6% on the previous year. This increase reflects the sharp acceleration of the Catalan economy in 1986 and 1987, in particular in the industrial sector, which represents more than 41% of this total. In terms of supply of primary energy, the region reached 17 million toe, through it should be emphasized that petrochemicals alone account for more than one third of the demand foroil.
DIVERSIFICATION OF SOURCES OF SUPPLY
If we examine the development of energy sources involved in final industrial consumption, the predominance of oil-derived fuels has given way to a much more diversified situation. In 1988, hydrocarbon derivatives represented only 26% of demand. The demand share covered by electricity has increased from 18% to 30% in 1988, with natural gas supplying 25% and solid fuels 19%. The completion of the chain of gas pipelines at the end of the 70s explains the conversion of industrial players to natural gas, the price of which became very attractive compared with oil. The current diversity on offer has also been facilitated by the high degree of flexibility of regional industries, who have been able to switch from one fuel to the next according to price developments.
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
Statistical projections have also allowed us to measure the environmental impact of final energy consumption. More than 100,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide are emitted every year in Catalonia. However, as the majority of this SO2 derives from the burning of oil, the conversion of factories to natural gas led to a drop of 2000 tonnes a year since 1986. On the other hand, the recent development of the transport sector has made the quantity of CO2 emissions rocket to 7 million tonnes a year. The only alternative way of stabilizing these emissions would be to encourage rail transport.
Achieving such objectives required having available the most precise and detailed segmentation of consumption possible. The difficulties of sectoral analysis using existing economic statistics and disparate classifcation systems became rapidly apparent. In particular the indicators of economic activity contained in the existing breakdown of enterprises, based on the NCEA (National Classification of Economic Activities), bore little relation to energy consumption.
It was therefore necessary to have a source of basic data which had been reviewed in a systematic fashion. This work was carried out for 1986, which was taken as a reference year. Within each sector, activities were classified according to their energy characteristics and were then analyzed according to available socio-economic data (number of employees, value added etc.). From this basis, an attempt was then made to "re-photograph" energy consumption.
In order to carry out this work, a data base was set up of energy consumption data from a series of industrial establishments which together represented more than 95% of industrial demand.

Programme(s)

ENG-THERMIE 1 - Programme (EEC) for the promotion of energy technology in Europe (THERMIE), 1990-1994

Topic(s)

Data not available

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

DEM - Demonstration contracts

Coordinator

GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA

EU contribution

No data

Address

DEPT. D'INDUSTRIA I ENERGIA, DIRECCIO GENERAL D'ENERGIA, C/DIAGONAL 514 2N
08006 Barcelona
Spain

Total cost